Mandela compared to Jesus Christ

Nelson Mandela convicted of plotting violent sabotage

Peter Oborne, writing in The Daily Telegraph, compares Nelson Mandela with Jesus Christ.

Back in the early eighties, it was Gandhi who was being hailed from Catholic Church pulpits as being Christ like.

I find such comparisons odious.

A holy priest is Christ like. Mother Teresa was Christ like.

Secular personalities who lead a life as far opposed to the teachings of Christ as possible, are not.

Oborne appears to suffer from journalistic amnesia as he neatly avoids any mention of why Mandela was imprisoned in the first place.

Admittedly, the sentence was a harsh one but we lock terrorists up for 30 years or more so why the hypocrisy and cant?

And terrorism is what Mandela was tried and sentenced for.

Most reports on Mandela's trial are coy as to the reasons why he was charged (with "attempted overthrow of the Government") as Wikipedia puts it.

Another media report today claims that he was jailed for his opposition to apartheid.

In fact, he was jailed for acts of violent sabotage against the state. I have not done a thorough search on the topic but my memory tells me that Nelson Mandela was part of an ANC group of activists and was apprehended whilst planting explosive charges that, had they been detonated, would have probably killed innocent men, women and children.

Of course apartheid was a terrible form of repression and, of course, the man seems to have mellowed in his later years but, he was also a signatory  when abortion issues were on the agenda (see Left Footer's post HERE).

But please let us face the fact that the African National Congress was a communist inspired and led organisation with the prime aim of inflicting terror on law abiding citizens.

This is part of Mandela's statement to the court at his trial:

Mandela - a lawyer by training - told the court earlier: "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites."

He was not Christ like. But he was Bin Laden like.

I hope that his later deeds and actions will prove to be his salvation.

May he rest in peace.

Caroline Farrow also has an excellent post on the subject.